Isolating Milk Derived Exosomes

Milk derived exosomes are of high interest in developing a better understanding of biological processes and the interaction of food intake and health. Various papers have identified the uptake of micro-RNAs from milk for instance. A recent paper in Reproductive Biology by University of Queensland researchers describes the options for isolating exosomes from milk including the use of qEV SEC columns. The qEVs resulted in significantly more particles being isolated (2 orders of magnitude), with greater purity. The columns were also much quicker and simpler to use, enabling higher throughput of samples than the alternative buoyant density gradient centrifugation.

Note that to quantify the exosomes the researchers used NTA, which is only a semi-quantitative technique, whereas TRPS would have provided certainty of the numbers and more detail on the physical characteristics of the EVs. That may provide an opportunity for further study.